Letters Home from a Yankee Doughboy 1916-1919

I see by this mornings paper that about ten or twelve states are to be releaved including cavalry and other units from Mass., but not any infantry from Mass. From all accounts we are to start Sunday for a fifteen day hike, probably travaling about two hundred miles. Say but wasnt it cold this morning. All the boys made use of their over coats and sweaters, and I think I would have frozen if I hadn’t worn mine to bed last night. I slept last night in two blankets, my suit of under wear my o.d. shirt, my sweater, and my over coat. I will admit I was warm and slept good, but when first call for reveille blue and I crawled out of this mountain of woolen, say it was cold. I got up, jumped in to my shoes, and bolted for the street at a ten second clip. Up and down the street I tore and when I got back into my tent again I was feeling like Roughans on a Saturday night. We had oat meal, hot corn bread and butter, and nice hot coffee. I beleive I told you we had some cook in this fellow Gretter. The corn bread just hit the spot and the boys feel just like drilling now. There goes first call and I must cut this letter out now and fall in. Ill see you when I get back, at noon.

Well here I am, in after a stiff, and very interesting drill. I cant say that it was hot at any time during this drill so you must have some imagination of the change in temperature in the last 36 hours. We started in with phisical exercise, then bayonet exercise in which I had to take two rooks and howl and yell at them for about an hour. Then we had about two hours of extended order or battle exercise. In this formation, the captain has his company marching in column of squads. He sends the first squad out to act as a point the next to act as flankers or combat patrols (one of which I had charge of this morning) and the rest as the main body. Well instead of going into it any further I will say that we won. This is pretty hard work, running about 50 yards falling down, firing, crawling fixing bayonets, and charging, but when it is all over it is easy. Get me. After this we had some close order work, such as marching like we do in parades, then we came in.

I understand we are to have oyster stew for dinner today. Fine what? OH we are eating all right. I pity some of the boys if we go on that hike they are talking about. It will be nothing like what we are enjoying now. I just got your letter of the 25th in which you spoke of us not knowing when we are to go home, and you are right. Im glad Tom is getting along so good and hope he makes good. But tell him not to join the army. So they are going to block some of our view of the Mistic ha? I knew it. I could dry my mess kit in the sun if I had plenty of hot water to rinse them in but we don’t get all the water for this purpose that we want you know and the most of the grease is removed by the same old towel. See you soon.